Happy Record Store Day!

 

There is just something about vinyl, the tactile feel, the odd eye-grabbing album art, and yes that 1970s-sandalwood-incense-plucked-straight-from-a-woodpaneled-basement smell. This is the first time I truly celebrated Record Store Day (sans Jack White, I guess he was too busy being an ambassador or something to come to Illinois). My friend Luke happens to be a big time vinyl collector so we met up at Co-Op Records in East Peoria where we quickly learned that you need to be in line before the dawn has cracked if you want to get that elusive Blind Melon record that the store - correction, the city - only ordered one copy of. Our trek included not one but FOUR local record stores because we're hard core like that. EP Co-Op, Peoria Co-Op, Pekin Co-Op, and Ribbon Records in downtown Peoria which I think was my favorite for quirk value, hence I will be going back. You meet some interesting characters along the way as well and it's cool to hear what everyone is after.

 

Here was my haul, I really wasn't looking for anything too specific so I plucked some Guess Who for my dad for Father's Day and the Spiral Starecase and Steve Martin are mine all mine. I know you are jealous, you are just playing it cool. I was pleasantly surprised to find this 8x10 portrait of Steve still in the sleeve!

Here is my friend's haul, 15 total. He was most pleased with Nick Drake and The White Stripes. Quite the eclectic array. He even asked me to make him stop before his spending got out of hand, but as I've learned from shopping with Carrie of Swanky Lady Vintage, no amount of hand slapping can deter someone from a good bargain. I may have to borrow a few.

 

It was a beautiful, sunny spring day, a little chilly in the morning, but it warmed up as the day progressed. One of those days where you can't help but take the backroads, turn up the Radiohead B-Sides, and sing away in your best Thom Yorke voice.